When Will We Address Our Greed Problem?

The Church remains largely silent about the economic problems of our day. Why is that? Alan Greenspan in his report to Congress yesterday admitted the fallacy of deregulation and expressed shock that banks took on risky loans and did not protect their shareholders.  It seems that CEO's with $20 million salaries and golden parachutes weren't really concerned about their shareholders. I'm shocked. The truth is, some regulation is good. It is the role of government to constrain the wickedness that comes from our sinful natures. Romans 13:1-5 tells us that God has put government in place to direct the affairs of men. Not all government is good, and too much government regulation and taxation does affect our freedom and prosperity. But, the absence of regulation also shows us that the human heart, unrestrained, will engage in more and more evil. In this case, greed is destroying us.

Of course, this greed does not just take place in the financial sector. Consumers also want more and more. I believe that this is one of the greatest spiritual problems of our day. We are desperately trying to fill a void within us and we have bought into the lie that bigger is better and that the more we have, the happier we are. The truth is, only God satisfies, but we seem to have forgotten that. I am not saying that we cannot ever have big houses or nice things. Those things are not inherently wrong necessarily. But, so many of us are living beyond our means to chase after an illusion. Contentment escapes us.

Let's look at house sizes for an example. The American Dream involves home ownership, among other things. Well, we have taken home ownership to a new level. Apparently, as families have gotten smaller in America houses have gotten bigger. New homes are 239% larger now than they were in the 1950's. 239%.  Families have dropped from 3.1 people per family to 2.6 since 1974, the year I was born. Why do we need all of this house?  A very interesting article from 2006 told us that people thought that it was their right, they NEEDED this much space, they were looking for privacy, and they wanted to have their own private space. Was all of this good? With the collapse of the housing market, what will happen to all of these huge homes?

Owning a home is a wonderful thing - or, it can be. My point is that we never seem to be satisfied. We want bigger and more all the time. Our appetites are unrestrained. America is 4% of the population and consume 25% of the world's resources. Our prosperity is built upon our appetites. If all of this prosperity had led us to become more generous, then it would be put to good use. But, that is not the case either. Recent reports are telling us that Christians are giving less and less each year to their churches. Maybe that is because churches spend the money on themselves as well (it has been said that over 90% of all the money given by Christians is spent on themselves). 

• Americans spent nearly twice as much on first-day sales of the video game “Grand Theft Auto IV” as the Southern Baptist Convention and its International Mission Board would need to share the gospel with all the world’s unreached people groups by 2010, according to a new report on church giving.
• The total portion of per capita income given to churches in 2006 was lower (in 2006) than in the worst year of the Great Depression (this was a year of great prosperity).
• it would cost each U.S. church member just 8 cents a day to help reach the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goal of cutting infant mortality by two-thirds by 2015

The financial crisis that we are in reflects a major moral crisis in our nation. We have put money and things ahead of God and people and. But, the Church says nothing because we have bought into the same lifestyle that is producing the problems that we see. We have even altered the gospel of Jesus Christ into the "prosperity gospel" so that we can go to church to learn how to become rich and keep feeding our insatiable desires.

Something tells me that this is what judgment looks like. We need to repent. But, if the Church does not call people to repentance, then what hope do we have? 

 

Comments

[Lee Herring]

Mr. Cross,

Thank you for your post. As I prepare to preach a sermon series on 'God's Economy' your thoughts are relevant and applicable. I believe the church has once again followed the culture too closely, and now it will be very difficult for us to preach repentance from greed because we have been too greedy ourselves.

Yours,
Lee Herring

[Lee Herring]

Mr. Cross,

Thank you for your post. As I prepare to preach a sermon series on 'God's Economy' your thoughts are relevant and applicable. I believe the church has once again followed the culture too closely, and now it will be very difficult for us to preach repentance from greed because we have been too greedy ourselves.

Yours,
Lee Herring

[Lennart]

Yes, your post is such an acurate reflection the worlds greed, not only America. I am an architect with a property developer in South Africa and we see the same trends. Houses are now 200sqm (2000sq ft) to 1500sqm (15000 sq ft) instead of the 120sqm (1200 sq ft) to 180sqm (1800 sq ft) 25 years ago. Two full bathrooms and an extra family lounge are now a necessity, rather than a luxury. Two children sharing a bedroom is unheard of and is only to be experienced by the deprived and poor. Families are smaller but space demanded is more. What have we taught our children? Greed?

I do not have the statistic, but I heard it said that, if you have a proper roof over your head, you can be considered as extremely rich by the overall worlds standerd.

[John Wallace]

Excellent article! Thanks for doing the research. I'm seeing evidence that the pressure to be upwardly mobile is being resisted by younger families who are now buying smaller homes by choice. Yes, you CAN practice hospitality in a smaller home!